San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — A 65-year-old San Francisco man who was shot to death by police after he allegedly came at them with a machete had called his doctor minutes before to say he was going to “try to take them out when they come to take me,” police said.
Police officials released a tape of Edward Lemarr Smith’s call to his physician Monday, two days after an officer shot and killed Smith just outside his home at 87 Maynard St. in the Excelsior neighborhood.
Officers were responding to a call Saturday evening from a woman living in the home who said Smith was drinking while on psychiatric medication, police said at a news conference. The woman, whom they did not identify, said she did not think Smith had any weapons, officials said.
Two officers arrived about 5:25 p.m. to find Smith inside the home with his hands behind his back, police said. He then pulled out a machete with an 18-inch blade from a sheathe and advanced on the officers, refusing to comply with their orders to freeze and drop the large knife, police said.
One of the two officers fired three rounds from a distance of about 5 feet, killing Smith just outside his front door, police officials said. They have not released the name of either officer.
At 5:08 p.m., less than 20 minutes before he was shot, Smith called his doctor and left a voice mail in which he said that someone had “just called the cops,” according to the tape of the message that police released Monday.
Smith told the doctor, whose name was not released, that “this is not my house anymore.”
“So I’m gonna to try to take them out when they come to take me,” Smith said. “It’s all over today, doctor. It’s all over today. Bye-bye.”
Police said they learned of the tape two hours after the shooting when the doctor contacted them.
Police Chief George Gascón said at the news conference that judging from Smith’s comments, “he wanted to engage the officers.”
The chief added, “This looks like a classic ‘suicide by cop’ incident.”
Police said they did not know what type of medicine Smith may have been taking or what psychiatric problems he may have had. His criminal record consisted of several drunken-driving convictions, the most recent in 2000.
A man living at the Maynard Street house who asked not to be identified said Smith had been in the Army in Vietnam and had been receiving treatment from the U.S. Department Veterans Affairs.
Smith was shot less than a week after the Police Department released a study on officer-involved shootings from 2005 through August 2009. It concluded about one-third of them could have been avoided had police been equipped with less-lethal weapons such as Taser stun guns.
Among the five deaths that fit in that category were three in which the targets were armed only with knives.
But Gascón, who ordered the study and believes officers should be given Tasers, said the electroshock weapons would have been of no help to police Saturday. He said the situation had escalated too quickly and that Smith had been too close by the time the officer fired.
“If I have a suspect who is within 4 to 5 feet, I’m not going to pull out the Taser, I’m going to pull out a gun,” Gascón said.
Tasers are “not a cure-all,” the chief said. Still, he added, “it is a tool we need to have.”
The officers involved in the incident Saturday have been taken off street duty, a routine step while the shooting is investigated by the police homicide and internal affairs units and by the district attorney.
Copyright 2010 San Francisco Chronicle